It Could Be Worse

This is a very timely post. I had actually drafted this post last week and intended on posting it tonight. Today at work, some of my co-workers and friends were laid off. This post is not in relation to that event.

From 1935–1944, the Farm Security Administration (FSA)-Office of War Information (OWI) took on an extensive U.S. government photography project. This project was a pictorial record of American life during these years. In total, the collection consists of approximately 171,000 black-and-white film negatives, 107,000 black-and-white photographic prints, and 1,610 color transparencies. I had never heard about this collection until I was doing research for work a couple months ago. I felt like I had won the lottery once I discovered the photos available from the Library of Congress Web site. I spent hours perusing the images. Below are some of the most famous images that were photographed by Dorthea Lange. I know you'll recognize the first photo. Last week as I was thinking about friends and loved ones who are going through difficult financial times, the image of this mother's face kept coming to my mind. It could be worse...

Caption: Destitute peapickers in California; 

a 32 year old mother of seven children. February 1936.

Mother's name: Florence Owens Thompson

Caption: These people had just sold their tent in order to buy food. 

Most of the 2,500 people in this camp were destitute.

In 1960, Lange gave this account of her experience:

I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. I do not remember how I explained my presence of my camera to her, but I do remember she asked me no questions. I made five exposures, working closer and closer from the same direction. I did not ask her name or her history. She told me her age, that she was thirty-two. She said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields, and birds that the children killed. She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food. There she sat in that lean-to tent with her children huddled around her, and seemed to know that my pictures might help her, and so she helped me. There was a sort of equality about it.

Carl Malone's Gotta Do What Carl Malone's Gotta Do

Disappearing Act

So my background for my blog disappeared. I did some research and it turns out that the host site (cutestblogontheblock.com) has exceeded their bandwidth limit in photobucket. I could change by background to another one that's not having this problem... but I really like that one, and only that one. So, sorry that you have to view a bare blog. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will be up and running soon. 

Tagged by Marcie

Six Names That You Go By:

1. Megan

2. Meg

3. Miss Megan

4. Megsie

5. Megs'n Bacon

6. See post "A rose by any other name..." below

Three Things That You're Wearing Right Now:

1. Glasses

2. Ralph Lauren perfume

3. Monkey slippers

(Though these aren't the only 3 things)

Two Things You Want Very Badly at the Moment:

1. My own house

2. A date with Kyle Korver

Three People Who Will Fill This Out:

1. Michelle A.

2. Natalie 

3. Hollie (if I beg)

Three Things You Did Last Night:

1. Braided Kenna's hair

2. Played Hide'n Seek in the dark

3. Watched Looney Tunes

Four Things You Ate Today:

1. Oatmeal

2. Muddy Buddies

3. Cadbury eggs

4. More Cadbury eggs & Muddy Buddies

Two People You Last Talked to on the Phone:

1. Marcie

2. Lara

Six Things You Will Do Tomorrow:

1. It's a Sunday, so I'll do my hair

2. Play hangman in Sunday School

3. Take a Sunday nap

4. Play with my nieces and nephews

5. Plan a trip to Europe

6. Stay up ridiculously late

Three Favorite Beverages:

1-3. Water (to make up for all the chocolate I eat)

Five Things Your Are Grateful For:

1. Cadbury Eggs

2. My family

3. My friends

4. A job

5. A warm, down comforter

Virgin Mary Toast. Jesus Cracker.

A few years ago, I saw something on the news about a special piece of toast that was posted for sale on ebay. It wasn't the type of bread used that made the toast so special. It wasn't the owner of the toast. It was the special image that managed to find its way onto the toasted surface of the piece of bread. You see, after the bread was toasted, an image of the virgin Mary appeared in the shading of the toasted portions of the bread. I couldn't see it. But apparently she was there, because thousands of either people saw the image, deemed the toast as spectacular, and placed their bids on ebay. I never did hear how much the toast went for.

And so, in honor of the virgin Mary toast, I present to you my Jesus Cracker. Sure, it's a whole wheat Ritz cracker. But look a little closer and I think you'll see what I'm talking about...

(Yes, it came this way, right out the package.)

Let the bids begin! I'm not sure what to start the bidding at... how much is your salvation worth?

I Left the Gun and Took the Canoli

Last weekend my friend and I made a quick getaway to St. George for the weekend. Her parents happen to own a very nice house down there and we happen to take advantage of it as often as we can. We have been five times in the past nine months, but this was the first time we went with just the two of us. Our goal was to read, watch The Godfather, shop, sleep, and wear no makeup for the weekend. After stopping at a couple different Davis County Libraries to get some good books on tape for the drive, we grabbed a smoothie, some chocolate chip cookies, and we were off! We didn't get there until late Friday night. We slept in on Saturday so that we'd have the energy needed to shop the day away, which we did. My friend taught me how to shop at TJ Max'n More. I feel like I'm on the verge of having a panic attack anytime I step foot into a TJ Max or Ross. I don't even know where to begin! But she reassured me that the "'n More" in the title meant that it was a cut above other TJ Max stores. Whether the "n More" had anything to do with it or not, I managed to find some really great things... that I didn't necessarily need.

That night we grabbed some dinner and popped in the first disc of The Godfather. Neither of us had seen any of the Godfather movies, and we decided it was time to see what all the fuss is about. Can I just say, that I finally see what all the fuss is about... Al Pacino was HOT when he was young!! However, had I known that Diane Keaton was in the movie, I wouldn't have bothered. She makes my skin crawl.

Sunday consisted of church with a Samoan choir, a picnic lunch out at some canyon, reading, and the last 2 Godfather movies. Well, at least the 2nd Godfather movie and a few minutes of the 3rd. All of the movies are pretty violent, but the third is the only movie that is set in more contemporary times. I think it got a little too violent and was a little too real with the setting. We shut it off about 15 minutes into the movie... and now I will never know what happens to the Godfather. If you know, PLEASE tell me what happens in the last movie!! All I know is that they made Al Pacino look old and he wasn't hot at all. Perhaps that's why we really turned the movie off.

Monday we slept in to try to counter the effects of the conversation that ran into the wee hours of the morning. We cleaned the house and headed for home. I think we were both secretly excited to leave so that we could finish our book on tape that we'd started on the way down.

I learned a lot that weekend.

I learned to leave the gun and take the Canoli.

I learned that if you anger a mob head, he will kill your $350,000 horse and put its head in your bed while you're sleeping.

I learned that actors that I find attractive now, will someday be unappealing to future generations.

I learned that Al Pacino was really hot when he was young. I don't know if I'd mentioned that already.

I learned that any male looks awesome in a pin strip, 5-button suit with a hat.

I learned to go to the mattresses when things get tough.

I learned to be leery of a brother who claims to have forgiven me for attempting to murder him because he might send me out on a fishing boat with a hitman. He is, after all, a mob head.

I learned that Diane Keaton bugs me whether she's a blonde or a brunette.

I learned that I don't want to marry into the Italian mafia, after all.

A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet...

Over the years, I have been called a great many things. Some of my nicknames have been terms of endearment and some have been adjectives or names that I never wish to hear again. However, it's the labels that have been given to me by my nieces and nephews in recent years that have been my favorite! I have been everything from a breakfast food to an adjective that means emitting a strong or unpleasant odor. 

Here are some of the many pronunciations of my name, Megan:

(spelled phonetically for your sake)

Nay-nee

Bacon

Gay-guhn

May-nee

Me-me

May-me

Me-kuhn

Meggy

May-tuhn

May-nuhn

Stinky- I know, it sounds nothing like my name. Odd, isn't it? :)